Memo to San Diego neighborhoods: If there\u2019s a development project in your midst, make sure you\u2019ve got a lawyer on speed dial.<\/p>\n
That was the message delivered by a Jan. 30 Superior Court ruling in a suit brought by a North Park community group against Jack in the Box and the city of San Diego.<\/p>\n
The court battle, which slogged on through 15 months and four postponements, focused regional attention on a perennial land use dilemma: Can corporate developers brazen their way around zoning laws that small businesses and homeowners must follow to the letter?<\/p>\n
In too many local communities, the answer has been a resounding \u201cOf course.\u201d From the Boulevard at 63rd project in Rolando to the Wal-Mart in Sherman Heights, developers have dug into a large bag of tricks \u2013 false promises and Trojan horse plans \u2013 to build projects that deliberately violated land use ordinances.<\/p>\n
The most popular gambit is a bait-and-switch in which the developer gets an over-the-counter permit for interior remodeling, lays low for a while, and then whoosh! Heavy equipment thunders in, exterior walls are torn down and the \u201cremodel\u201d morphs into an illegal demolition and reconstruction.<\/p>\n
North Park went down this road in 2007 when Kentucky Fried Chicken bulldozed an eatery and rebuilt it in an improper location. After that, elected officials assured us that City Hall would do a better job of enforcing its laws and protecting its communities.<\/p>\n
Four years later, when Jack in the Box announced\u00a0plans to \u201cremodel\u201d its antiquated building<\/a>\u00a0at the intersection of 30th and Upas streets, we were wary. The drive-thru lane at that location is prohibited under current zoning laws. We made it clear that the corporation had a choice: Do a simple remodel and keep the grandfathered drive-thru, or exceed the permit and lose the drive-thru.<\/p>\n We were na\u00efve to ever think that Jack in the Box would play by the rules. We should have learned that corporations will do and spend whatever it takes to feed their bottom lines.<\/p>\n But our real mistake was trusting that our city government would uphold the law. The court dismissed our suit on the grounds that we waited too long to file it. While we dispute that decision, it\u2019s true that we didn\u2019t rush to court, and that was because elected officials asked us to be patient while they sought mitigation. According to\u00a0an email we received from Lee Burdick<\/a>, former chief of staff for ex-Mayor Bob Filer, the city attorney even opined that \u201cthe process used to issue the permits was inconsistent with the city\u2019s Land Development Code.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet, instead of taking Jack in the Box to court, the city attorney teamed up with the fast-food giant against us.<\/p>\n The\u00a0website for Care About North Park<\/a>, our neighborhood alliance, lists the lame excuses we\u2019ve heard from elected officials. They\u2019ll sound familiar to neighborhoods throughout the city. They include:<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cOops, we made a mistake, things fell through the cracks.\u201d This kind of abysmal job performance gets you fired in the private sector.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lesson from this, and we\u2019ll make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d Picture the film \u201cGroundhog Day\u201d without the happy ending.<\/p>\n In a democracy, the court of last resort is the ballot box. As we decide whether to appeal the ruling, we are looking ahead to next year\u2019s elections for two offices that played a key role in this mess, the City Council District 3 representative and the city attorney.<\/p>\n We are eager to meet with candidates for those offices. We will be asking very tough questions, and we will be taking notes.<\/p>\n Update: Organizers of Care About North Park, including Pyles and Lewis, have announced they are moving forward with an appeal of the Superior Court Judge’s ruling on the lawsuit. On March 8, a crowd funding campaign to raise legal fees for the appeal was launched at <\/i>gofundme.com\/supportourappeal<\/i><\/a>. Visita careaboutnorthpark.com<\/a> for more details and updates.<\/i><\/p>\n Rick Pyles and Roger Lewis are co-founders of Care About North Park. Pyles and Lewis\u2019 commentary has been edited\u00a0for style and clarity.\u00a0See anything in there we should fact check?\u00a0Tell us what to check out here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
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